1917 Saskatchewan general election

The 1917 Saskatchewan general election was held on June 26, 1917, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

1917 Saskatchewan general election

← 1912 June 26, 1917 (1917-06-26) 1921 →
← outgoing members members →
62 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 32 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   CON Leader William Martin Wellington Willoughby Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 1916 1912 Leader's seat Regina City Moose Jaw City Last election 45 8 Seats won 51 7 Seat change 6 1 Popular vote 106,552 68,243 Percentage 56.7% 36.3% Swing 0.3pp 5.7pp
Premier before election William Martin Liberal Premier after election William Martin Liberal

After replacing Walter Scott as leader of the Liberal Party of Saskatchewan and premier of the province, William M. Martin led the party to its fourth consecutive victory, winning all but 8 of the 59 seats in the legislature.

The Conservative Party of Wellington Willoughby continued to lose popular support.

This was the first Saskatchewan election in which women were allowed to vote and run for office. However, none were declared elected in this election. The first Saskatchewan woman MLA was elected in a 1918 by-election.

The Non-Partisan League, forerunner of the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan, ran candidates in this election but none were successful. Labour candidates also appeared for the first time.

David John Sykes became the first Independent to sit in the Saskatchewan legislature. He was nominated by the Liberal, Conservative and Non-Partisan League organizations, and was acclaimed to the seat this election.^[1]

A separate army ("service") vote was held from October 3 to October 13, 1917 to elect three soldier MLAs. All service candidates were Independent (not affiliated), and those MLAs were elected to represent Saskatchewan residents stationed in France, Belgium and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Results

Party		Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
				1912	Elected	% Change	Votes	%	% Change
	Liberal	William M. Martin	58	46	51	+13.3%	106,552	56.68%	-0.28%
	Conservative	Wellington Willoughby	53	7	7	–	68,243	36.30%	-5.68%
	Independent		10	–	1	+100%	4,440	2.36%	+1.30%
	Nonpartisan League		7	*	–	*	7,267	3.87%	*
	Labour	William Geo. Baker (default)	2	*	–	*	1,474	0.79%	*
Sub-total			130	53	59	–	187,976	100%
	Soldiers' vote (Province at large)		14	*	3	*	13,655	6.77%	*
Total			144	53	62	+11.3%	201,631	100%
Source: Elections Saskatchewan

Note:* Party did not nominate candidates in previous election.

Percentages

Popular vote Liberal   56.68% Conservative   36.30% Others   7.02%

Seats summary Liberal   82.26% Conservative   11.29% Others   6.45%

Members of the Legislative Assembly elected

For complete electoral history, see individual districts

4th Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly

	District	Member	Party
	Arm River	George A. Scott	Liberal
	Bengough	Thomas Gamble	Liberal
	Biggar	George H. Harris	Liberal
	Cannington	John D. Stewart	Liberal
	Canora	Albert Hermanson	Liberal
	Cumberland	Deakin Alexander Hall	Liberal
	Cut Knife	William Dodds	Liberal
	Cypress	Isaac Stirling	Liberal
	Elrose	Archibald McNab	Liberal
	Estevan	George Bell	Liberal
	Francis	Walter Robinson	Liberal
	Hanley	Macbeth Malcolm	Liberal
	Happyland	Stephen Morrey	Liberal
	Humboldt	William Turgeon	Liberal
	Île-à-la-Crosse	Joseph Nolin	Liberal
	Jack Fish Lake	Donald Finlayson	Liberal
	Kerrobert	John Dowd	Liberal
	Kindersley	William R. Motherwell	Liberal
	Kinistino	John R. Taylor	Liberal
	Last Mountain	Samuel Latta	Liberal
	Lloydminster	Robert J. Gordon	Liberal
	Lumsden	William Vancise	Liberal
	Maple Creek	Alexander Colquhoun	Liberal
	Melfort	George B. Johnston	Liberal
	Milestone	Bernard Larson	Liberal
	Moose Jaw City	Wellington Willoughby	Conservative
	Moose Jaw County	Charles Dunning	Liberal
	Moose Mountain	Robert Magee	Liberal
	Moosomin	John Salkeld	Conservative
	Morse	Malcolm L. Leitch	Liberal
	North Qu'Appelle	James Garfield Gardiner	Liberal
	Notukeu	George Spence	Liberal
	Pelly	Magnus Ramsland 1	Liberal
	Pheasant Hills	James Arthur Smith	Liberal
	Pipestone	Richard Phin	Liberal
	Prince Albert	Charles M. McDonald	Liberal
	Redberry	George Langley	Liberal
	Regina City	William Martin	Liberal
	Rosetown	William Badger	Conservative
	Rosthern	William Bashford	Liberal
	Saltcoats	James Alexander Calder	Liberal
	Saskatoon City	Donald Maclean	Conservative
	Saskatoon County	Murdo Cameron	Liberal
	Shellbrook	Edgar Clinch	Liberal
	Souris	William Fraser	Conservative
	South Qu'Appelle	Joseph Glenn	Conservative
	Swift Current	David Sykes	Independent
	The Battlefords	Allan Pickel	Liberal
	Thunder Creek	Andrew Gallaugher	Conservative
	Tisdale	Hugh Jones	Liberal
	Touchwood	John M. Parker	Liberal
	Turtleford	Archibald Gemmell	Liberal
	Vonda	James Hogan	Liberal
	Wadena	John MacMillan	Liberal
	Weyburn	Robert Mitchell	Liberal
	Wilkie	Reuben Martin	Liberal
	Willow Bunch	Abel Hindle	Liberal
	Wynyard	Wilhelm Paulson	Liberal
	Yorkton	Thomas Garry	Liberal

Notes

¹ Magnus Ramsland died in 1918. In the resulting by-election, he was succeeded by his widow Sarah Ramsland, the first woman ever elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan.

October 13, 1917 service vote results

Like other provinces Saskatchewan held a service vote – actually two separate votes – for Saskatchewan residents in the Canadian armed services fighting during World War I. The first vote was for France and Belgium – two members were elected in a block vote; the top member represented France and the second member elected represented Belgium. Another member was also elected to represent troops in Great Britain. Three seats in the Legislature were set aside for these soldier-MLAs.

France and Belgium

Candidate	Votes	%	elected
Private Harris Turner	3,938		France
Captain Frederick Bagshaw	1,791		Belgium
Lt. Col. Alexander Ross	978
Private Kenneth Crawford	798
Sergeant William Reade	577
Sapper John Arthur Gibson	379
Major Robert Henry Smith	365
Sgt. Major William Harry Wilson	233
Lieutenant Alfred Haigh	216

Great Britain

Candidate	Votes	%
Lt. Col. James Albert Cross	2,698
Captain Alfred Manville	691
Sergeant Arthur Eaton	504
Sergeant Samuel Barraclough	273
Captain Daniel Lochead	214

See also

• List of political parties in Saskatchewan
• List of Saskatchewan provincial electoral districts